| |
Back to Index
Over
our dead bodies! Report on victims of organized violence and torture
in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Torture Victims Project (ZTVP)
July, 2006
Read
the ZTVP statement
Download
this document
- Word
97 version (104KB)
- Acrobat
PDF version (126KB)
If you do not have the free Acrobat reader
on your computer, download it from the Adobe website by clicking
here.
Introduction
This report provides a brief top-line analysis of 267 Zimbabweans
who sought assistance from the Zimbabwe Torture Victims Project
(ZTVP), located in Johannesburg, South Africa, over the past one
and half years. In recent times, South Africa has seen an increase
in the number of Zimbabweans coming into South Africa linked to
the political crisis in that country. In particular, since 2002,
there has been a massive increase in the number of Zimbabweans requesting
political asylum in South Africa. To illustrate, in 2002 approximately
120 Zimbabweans applied for asylum. In 2003, this number increased
to approximately 2700, and trebled to 8500 in 2004. By the end of
2005, approximately 16000 Zimbabweans had applied for asylum in
South Africa . Recent statistics further show that the movement
into South Africa of Zimbabweans fleeing persecution is not abating.
Instead, for the months of January, February and March 2006, Zimbabwe
has come to represent the main country from which the largest number
of newly arrived asylum seekers in South Africa derive. In the first
quarter of 2006 alone, 7211 Zimbabweans applied for refugee status
in South Africa .
A number of studies have
sought to document the deepening political crisis in Zimbabwe, patterns
of violence and torture in that country, and their links to key
political processes, such as elections. In September 2005, the ZTVP
undertook a snap survey of Zimbabweans living in five different
locations in Gauteng province to obtain a better sense of potential
clients that the ZTVP might have to deal with, as well as the proportion
of Zimbabweans who might potentially qualify for assistance in terms
of need . That study found evidence to suggest that there would
be an increasing need to assist Zimbabweans who had been victims
of torture residing in South Africa. To be able to do so, the study
concluded that there was a pressing need to gain a better understanding
of the position and plight of Zimbabweans who have come to South
Africa in search of refuge. It is this need which this brief report
seeks to address.
The report provides information
about Zimbabweans who reported having been victims of organized
violence and torture in Zimbabwe and who are now living in South
Africa. It includes information about Zimbabweans who approached
the Zimbabwe Torture Victims Project in Johannesburg for assistance.
As such, the data analysed in this report cannot be construed as
being representative of the entire Zimbabwean population in South
Africa. Nonetheless, the findings are indicative of the experiences
of Zimbabweans who are coming into South Africa, particularly of
many of those who are applying for political asylum, and serve to
put to the test, from the point of view of torture victims themselves,
some of the existing findings on the patterns of violence and torture
in Zimbabwe.
The report presents
findings derived from data pertaining to 267 Zimbabweans who sought
assistance from the ZTVP between January 2005 and April 2006. It
provides a brief demographic profile of clients, details about their
experiences of violence and torture, as well as the types of assistance
rendered by the ZTVP. The data have been analyzed through the use
of SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). Due to the
size of the sample, the analysis is based on basic frequencies and
cross-tabulations of the data. Only statistically significant findings
are reported.
Download full document
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
